The White Tiger

To judge by this densely textured and occasionally exciting suspense novel, China after Mao is still a dangerous place to be, especially for those in power. The protagonist, Hong, is a high-ranking policeman whose stubborn honesty leads him to investigate, unofficially and at growing personal risk, the mysterious death of his friend and mentor, while at the same time he is officially tailing a visiting American psychiatrist presumed to be a spy. Hong's investigations take him on a journey through the past that ends with his expose of treachery and crime among Mao's closest associates, the ""tigers'' of the Revolution. The novel's chief strengths are its intensely realistic depiction of a Peking bureaucracy, wherein those with the strongest noses for ``spiritual pollution'' appear to be the most corrupt, and Hong himself, a sympathetic and credible figure caught in the toils of sordid events. Its weaknesses are a pedestrian style and characterization that, Hong aside, is somewhat lacking in depth and vibrancy. Nathan wrote Rising Higher and Amusement Park. Major ad/promo; BOMC alternate. (August 2)